


Scores and Salamanders

by JackLuk



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-09 05:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11098371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackLuk/pseuds/JackLuk
Summary: This is a story I promised to write someone after they won a pepsicola drawing contest on my Instagram. It's very simple, but I still hope anyone who stumbles upon this enjoys it!





	1. John

Your name is Dave Strider, and you aren’t anyone special. You aren’t particularly great at anything. You can carry a beat decently enough to mix music together or play a song using different sounds on your turntables, but you can’t write your own music. You can sing decently, but you aren’t incredible at it. The thing in the world that you love the most is music. Okay, actually, you love your sister a lot too, but music has to come at a close second.

You can completely lose yourself in a song. On late nights when you couldn’t sleep, you’d curl up next to the window and play slow, familiar songs on your beaten-up guitar your bro had purchased you from a garage sale for only twenty dollars. It always calmed you down. You felt in control when you were alone, safe and sound with a beaten guitar missing three strings. You could play the music yourself, a calming lullaby to soothe your constantly swirling mind.

Relaxing has never been easy for you, not with your bro leaving traps throughout the house and occasionally asking-no, ordering you to spare with him on the roof. You hated sparing with your bro. He never went easy on you, and you always left the roof with cuts that would scar and bruises that you’d have to hide during gym for at least three weeks. Unlike your bro, your body was sensitive. You have scars all over your body and rough callouses now.

...You don’t particularly like yourself, and you don’t think anyone else does. Your bro is always distant to you. Returning home from school had never been fun for you. Every day felt awkward and tense. Talking to your bro was always weird somehow. He wouldn’t really listen to you, and if he did, he would just laugh at you, so you didn’t talk to him much. The one person you did talk to a lot was your sister, Rose. She didn’t live with you. When your bro and mom divorced, Rose went with your mom, and you went with your bro. He never let you call him Dad, and you never wanted to.

Rose was smart, the smartest person you had ever met in your entire life. She was reasonable and considerate, but her rationality occasionally made you nervous to talk to her. Sometimes you felt as if you were on trial when you spoke to her. She could read into you very easily. The silly pair of sunglasses that you always wore to hide your eyes didn’t hide away any emotions from your prying sister.

You distinctly remember one foggy morning where the two of you were alone together. You had expressed to her how you felt about yourself and how nervous you were for the future. You explained with a slight crack in your voice that you weren’t good at anything and wouldn’t be able to find a job because you’d just be terrible about it. You were scared of the future. Rose sighed quietly and instead of laughing, just informed you in a soft voice of what you needed to do.

“Go to college. You can learn everything you need to about music or whatever interests you there.” You were hesitant. You had no idea where you would go to college at, what major you would choose, or if you would be able to pay for it. Rose’s response was simple as to not worry you any more. “Come to Derse University. I’ll help you figure out everything along the way.” She did. She helped you study for the SAT and ACT. She helped you fill out scholarships and applications. She proof-read your essays and made sure you didn’t embarrass yourself somewhere along the way.

It had been stressful, and at the beginning, you didn’t think you’d be able to even get into the school, but you did. You were accepted, and you were given scholarship upon scholarship thanks to your bro’s low income, your essays, and your tests scores. It all came together, and you were starting to have a really good feeling about all of this. That was until your flight took off. Nervousness settled in the pit of your stomach and just stayed there, weighing down on you as you soared the sky in the most stomach-retching way possible.

In some magical twist of events, you didn’t end up puking during the flight. It wasn’t until you walked off of the plane and the sudden stillness caused your stomach to lurch. You ran to a trash can as fast as possible and let out the contents of your stomach. You felt dizzy and beat up as you grabbed your luggage and made your way outside of the airport. Rose had ended up on a different plane that arrived a few hours earlier than yours.

You called for a taxi and were able to make your way to the college. You had several bags and suitcases to the point where you looked like a traveler in some cartoon. When you finally arrived at the campus, you felt a little out of place. There were people everywhere, meeting with friends and laughing with each other. You stuck out like a sore thumb with your messy blond hair and large sunglasses. You swallowed saliva and then started your search for the men’s dormitory.

It didn’t take for you long to find it. The building was large and just behind a tall, yellow-brick library. You checked into the dormitory at the front desk and obtained your key before starting your hunt for your new room. It was on the fourth story of the building. Upon opening your door, disappointment washed over you in a heavy wave. The room was...so much smaller than you had expected it to be, not to mention plain.

The walls were eggshell white, and the tiles on the floor were gray and plain. The room was perfectly symmetrical. There was a long, thin bed on either side as well as a desk and a tall dresser. You hung your head as you looked around the room. This place looked like a prison cell. You left your door open and placed your bags on the bed on the left side of the room, deciding to claim this side as your own. As you pulled out your clothes and started to file them away into your dresser, a thought crossed your mind.

Where was your roommate? You knew that almost everyone living at the school would be assigned a roommate, so where was yours? It was four thirty now, and most of the people at the school already seemed settled in. You wondered if you were one of the lucky ones who would be given a room to yourself. You sure hoped so! You had never shared a room with anyone before. Even when Rose lived with you before the divorce, you both had your own rooms.

You played with happy thoughts of independence and not having to worry about seeing a naked man if you turned your head during the wrong moment, as you put away your remaining clothing items. You hadn’t brought all of your clothes since you knew you wouldn’t be able to fit them all in your wardrobe. You were able to fit all of the ones you had brought in by rolling them up to conserve space.

The next thing to do was make your bed. You pulled out brand new white sheets and neatly pulled them onto the standard, small bed that you knew would take you a while to get used to. It didn’t look remotely comfortable. You laid your red comforter down on top of the bed and then stood back to look at it. That was probably going to be the only time you made your bed all year. You moved back to your luggage to find other items such as your alarm clock and turntables to put away.

“Uh…,” a male’s voice uttered softly. You turned your head and stood up straight upon hearing a voice. The person standing at your door looked confused. The man looked to be only an inch or two shorter than you. He was thin but didn’t look athletic. You guessed that there was a bit of pudge under his blue shirt that read “Ghostbusters” in bold, black letters. “Room 413?” Dave was quiet for a moment as he stared into bright, dark eyes blue like the ocean, hiding behind thick lenses. This must be your roommate. You cleared your throat quickly, wanting to make a good impression.

“Yeah, um, I’m Dave. Dave Strider,” you spoke in a firm voice, hoping he could understand you. You watched as those blue eyes cloudy with confused cleared before squinting at the corners. Teeth whiter than pearls shone as a wide smiled appeared on the short man’s face.

“I’m John,” he spoke in a cheerful voice, holding out his hand for the other to shake. “John Egbert. Looks like we’re roommates.”

“I guess so,” You replied, taking John’s soft hand and giving it a firm shake. “Where are you from?”

“Washington. It was a really long drive here,” John explained as he lugged his bags and suitcases over to the right side of the room. “I’m really glad you chose the left side of the room. This side just seems..right.” After letting out his last word, quiet giggles left the young man’s pastel pink lips. Was that a pun? You decided not to respond to it.

“I flew in from Texas.” John spun around on his heel as fast as a spinning top.

“Holy shit! That’s so far away. You had to take a plane?” You nodded.

“Sure did. It cost me a fucking arm and a leg, but I managed.” The other crossed his arms over his chest. Your eyebrows moved upwards in concern. “What?” Your voice was softer than before.

“How can you be from Texas if you don’t have an accent?” Your ruby eyes rolled around in your eye sockets. You should have known that you would be asked this.

“I’m not from that part of Texas. It’s the biggest state. We don’t all talk the same there.” John shrugged.

“Huh. Well, you’d sound cooler than an accent.”

“You don’t think I’m already cool?” You asked with a smirk creeping onto your lips. John giggled again.

“I don’t really know you yet, but you seem pretty dorky.”

“Me? No way.”

“Oh, come on, there’s nothing wrong with being a dork.” You shook your head.

“Well, obviously not. I don’t judge you,” you joked. You then realized that neither of you were unpacking. You were just standing, staring and talking to each other, and it didn’t feel awkward. Huh. You had a good feeling that the two of you were going to turn out to be great friends. After a moment of staring at each other with a smirk on your face and a grin on John’s, John giggled, blushed, and turned away.

“I should probably unpack. My old room was never super messy, and I should probably keep up that good habit,” he spoke as he unzipped his luggage. You turned away to look at your remaining bags, feeling a bit dazed for a moment. You shook off your starry feelings and finished putting your remaining items away. Once you finished, you sat down at your desk where you had set your turntables. You could still hear John folding clothes and humming to himself as he shoved them in his drawers. The sound of his voice made the scenery seem domestic. You relaxed and slid on your large, red headphones.

Slowly, you turned on the turntables. You pressed one button that made a steady beat begin and then another that sounded a lighter beat. The sounds went together beautifully, and before you knew it, your hands were all over the pad of buttons, fingers pressing, gliding, and pulling at the different features. Music soft yet strong moved through your ears into your head and filled up your chest with feelings of empowerment that excited you and calmed you all at once.

Over time, you turned up the volume, wanting the infecting sound to drown out everything else around you. You’re not sure just how long you played. The world around you had seemed to disappear. That was until a warm, small finger pressed against your shoulder. You turned off the turntables and looked up at the man standing next to you. John was smiling, a bright infectious smile with pink brushed over the tops of his cheeks. You hung your headphones around your neck and opened your mouth to speak, but John beat you to it.

“That sounded so cool,” he said excitedly, his bright blue eyes shining in the beam of sunlight pouring in from the window as those large eyes squinted. “You’re really good at that. How does it work?” You blinked once and then looked at your turntables to the shining man in front of you.

“My turntables?” you asked. John nodded.

“Yeah, how do they work?” You looked to your turntables and then back at John. No one had ever asked you about your turntables before. You weren’t sure where to even begin. The longer you hesitated to speak, the less excited John visibly became.

“It uh, it’s kind of complicated. It’d take a while to explain it.” John nodded in understanding.

“Okay. Well, it’s almost six. Do you wanna get dinner and then afterwards explain how those magical DJ tables work?” he asked in a bubbly tone, his smile returning in no time. You never knew how resilient an expression could be.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” You stood up from your desk and removed your headphones from your neck. Did that sly guy just ask you out to dinner? No, he’s just your roommate. He’s currently friendless just like you, and he’s only going to cling to you until he can find some real friends. The thought was a little upsetting, but it was the most likely possibility. Most people in college just tolerate their roommates. You doubted your relationship with the blue eyed guy was going to be any different.


	2. Chapter 2

You were wrong. Two months had passed, and you both were still each other’s closest friends at the school. Sure, John had branched off a bit and made a couple friends who attended the same classes as him, and you had as well, but at the end of the day, you always met up in your room and played video games or just chatted for hours on end. You two had completely different interests. You played the guitar and made rap and trap music on turntables while John played the piano and played traditional music or made new songs that were calming and soft.

Surprisingly, your differences never pulled the two of you apart but instead brought you both closer.

“Dave!” John exclaimed as he burst open the door to the dormitory. You turned around in your seat and removed your headphones, still fiddling with the pencil in your hand. You had been working on an assignment that was way more stressful than you had anticipated it would be.

“What’s up, Excitable Egbert?” You asked, leaning back in your chair and staring into those alluring blues. The comment rewarded you with a giggle from pressed together lips.

“Well, Mr. Not-So-Excitable-Strider, I just found out there’s a pet store just off campus!” he cheered.

“Why are you so excited about a pet store?” You thought animals were neat if they were dangerous or weird, but all in all, you weren’t a gigantic pet person.

“Why wouldn’t I be? Come on, aren’t you gonna come with me? You don’t want little, helpless, John out there in the big, bad world, do you? Think of what could happen to me.” You would never admit it, but you actually agreed with John. He seemed small and frail in your eyes, not emotionally. He had a strong personality and seemed fairly confident about himself and who he was, but physically...he seemed like a bunny rabbit. Bad things could happen to bunny rabbits.

“Yeah, fine. You’ve convinced me. I know about your separation issues. Can’t go anywhere without your beloved bodyguard, right?” You stood up as you spoke. You already knew this was going to be a very boring endeavor spent with a complete nerd that you probably stick your dick into given the chance, but you also could use some time away from your homework.

“That’s right. You know I can’t stand being without you.” Another laugh left his lips. “Just kidding.” You doubted he was. Swiftly, you packed up your wallet and phone before exiting the room with the shorter male.

“How far is the place?”

“About a quarter mile off campus. Not too far, but we’ll get a work out in. It’ll be good for your stick legs.”

“I’ve got more muscle than you do, twig,” You argued. John snickered at that and sped walked down the hallway. It humored you to see just how excited John was to go to a measly pet store. You didn’t entirely understand the excitement, which in turn made the whole situation even funnier. You squinted your eyes once you were outside. Even with your sunglasses on, it was still incredibly bright out. When you finally arrived to the pet store, John was breathing heavily but still walking at a quick pace. He stopped to gaze up at the building. You stood as well and crossed your arms over your chest.

“Is this everything you were hoping for and more?” you joked. John looked over to you, his bright, blue eyes appearing to shine in the light and grinned.

“It sure is,” he replied. You rolled your eyes in response and stayed in place as John laughed and jogged to the entrance. You needed a moment to relax your heartbeat. You weren’t sure if you were annoyed or intrigued by the way John made you feel. Maybe it was a little bit of both. After taking in a heavy breath, you walked to the double doors and pushed them open. The store was full of people of all different shapes and sizes. A couple of them had dogs on leashes but most were empty handed. It wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty either. Your ruby eyes swept the store from right to left.

Everything seemed to slow down for a moment. Where did John go?

“Fuck,” you muttered before taking a step forwards. It would have been a lot easier to find the kid if he was taller, wore bright colors, or didn’t have the stupidly adorable tendencies of a mouse. You balled your hands into fists and walked into an isle full of puppies and dog toys. You didn’t like the thought of John being alone for even a second, so you were very much so determined to find the man. However, the sound of a yelp made you stop in your tracks.

Upon turning your head to the side, you saw a tiny, white puppy with its paws pressed against the glass. Its tongue was hanging out and dripping saliva onto the gray floor underneath its back paws. Another yelp left the dog, causing you to glare at it. This distraction was not needed. You were on a hunt for your friend. You could always come back and look at the fuzzy animal later. You turned your head and took a step forwards..only to hear a whine resonate from the animal.

“Look, pups, I’m a little busy right now. I don’t have time for this,” you explained to the brown-eyed dog. It sat down and wagged its short tail at you. “Is this you waiting? You’re gonna have to explain with words.” The dog stared at you blankly. “Good talk.” As much as you wanted to, you couldn’t seem to tear your eyes away from the animal. You rolled your eyes and pressed your palms against the glass where the dog’s paws were. 

“It’d be a fuckin’ miracle if you knew where my buddy is.” Familiar, bubbly laughter sounded behind you, causing you to turn around at lightning speed. “Uh-”

“Dave, you’re so cute,” John said through laughter, covering part of his mouth with his hand. Your cheeks tinted pink, and you took a step away from the animal in the cage. 

“Fuck you, man.”

“If you wanted to look at the dogs, you just had to ask. You didn’t need to run off.” John’s eyes rolled, and you almost wanted to slap them back in place, but you resisted. 

“I didn’t run off.” You crossed your long, thin arms over your chest. “You did. You literally sprinted into the store like a goddamn kangaroo.”

“Kangaroos jump.” John was grinning. He always seemed so relaxed and happy to you. You wondered how he stayed so content. You always tried to appear cool and calm, but inside, you tended to be rather angsty, and that angst often seeped onto the outside. 

“They sprint too now.” 

“‘Course they do.” He laughed through his words in a way that was only flattering when John did it. “I didn't know you liked dogs.”

“Dogs are the shit. Big and scary guard dogs protecting the house like a real family member unlike my pussy bro that pees himself when a tree branch scratches his window.”

“This dog isn't big and scary?” John said with a questioning tone. You didn't skip a beat with his cleverly silly response. 

“I was asking him where the other dogs were. Where did you go anyways?” With just one question, John had turned around with a gigantic grin on his round cheeks. 

“I’ll show you!” He grabbed your arm, his grip gentle but still firm as to not let you escape his grasp. He hurried to the other side of the store, and you were tugged along like a rag doll. He stopped once the two of you were in a section surrounded by glass tanks that held tiny forests inside of each one. “Welcome to tiny dino land.” He freed your arm and held up his hands to show off the area. You leaned down in front of one of the tanks, placing your hands on your knees as you did so. You looked around the leafy area until you found a green lizard with a detailed face gripping at a leaf. 

“Woah, look at Mr. Dragon right here.” John was pressed up against your side to look at the small dragon in the fraction of a second. His shoulder brushed against yours, but he didn’t seem to mind, and neither did you. “Little guy’s upset. He needs more gold.”

“You’re right. Right now he’s a goldless dragon. How is he supposed to live..without gold?” That annoying and adorable guy just started singing at the end of his sentence, referencing a movie that he liked much more than he should. 

“Movie still sucks even if that was well placed.” He just scrunched up his nose and laughed at you. 

“You just have bad taste.”

“Sure,” you said sarcastically with a roll of your eyes. John shook his head, causing his fluffy, dark hair to move around. You stared at the lizard until John’s warmth left your shoulder. 

“Hey, check out this little guy.” You stood up properly and walked over to the display he was staring at. Inside was a yellow creature. It looked like a lizard to you, but it had very soft features. 

“It looks like a baby lizard. Wittle Sammy’s all alone in his playpen. Somebody get his papa.” John groaned, causing a smirk to appear on your thin lips. 

“First of all,” he began, lifting his index finger to educate you. “That is a salamander, and she is a girl.”

“How dare I misgender her,” you teased. He bumped your shoulder with his bony elbow. 

“Don’t act like she isn’t adorable.”

“I’m not. She’s very cute for a bald, lizard baby.”

“Salamander!” John strained. You looked over to John, whose bright, blue eyes were locked on the little animal. You were quiet for a moment, listening to the soft sounds of shoes on the hard, smooth floor and chirping of birds trapped in cages in the distance. Once you decided that John was pretty serious about this salamander, you chose to break the peaceful silence. 

“Do you wanna hold her?” John’s expression softened before lighting up. 

“I-” He scrambled onto his feet. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to.”

“We can ask.”

“I mean, I don’t know. It’s yellow. What if it’s poisonous?”

“You really think they’re selling poisonous animals here?”

“Uh, did you not see the tarantulas?”

“I didn’t.” You were silenced for a moment because John got you there, but it didn’t take you long to spring back on your feet. “I’m gonna ask a person.” You walked a short distance away from the other to find an employee with bright eyes and even brighter teeth. You asked her to help John hold the animal. He seemed a little shy about the whole ordeal, but you were pretty sure you were the only one to notice that. His excitement and wide grin hid his nervousness from any loser that didn't bother reading into John. The man was so different from you in so many ways. You always tried to hide your emotions. You wore sunglasses and kept your mouth in a perfect line at almost every second of the day because you didn't want anyone to look at you too closely or try to figure you out. 

Sure, you wanted friends and people to surround you and distract you from your own mind and the pressing weight of your own existence, but you never wanted someone to take time out of their oh so precious day to figure you out. You kept a wall around yourself, not because you were some edgy teen that secretly wanted someone to ride on a fucking wrecking ball naked to knock them down but because you really just wanted space. There was a certain amount of grounding in keeping secrets and keeping your true self to yourself. John was the exact opposite. He wore his heart on his sleeve. 

Now, if this isn't obvious enough to everyone over the age of fourteen or anyone who has had enough time in their life to truly think about themselves and the world around them, a heart isn't easy to read. Sure, some people are open books, but if someone is a book, then he is Victorian era, 400,000,000 page poem. Only scholars can come close to understanding him, and even then, they can never understand for sure what the author really meant, who the person really is. John isn't like you. He wants to be understood, and this fact shines from the glow of his real, natural smile to the droning sound of him telling you about what his classmate said to him in English class. He wants-no, longs for someone to twist and tug at him until they match all of his colors and solve his Rubix cube of a soul.

Because you're so dashingly considerate, you've decided to try and crack that case, and right now, you were pretty sure that he wanted to hold this animal that you already forgot the name of. Oh, and you had been so right. John held the squishy looking dinosaur in his hands delicately as if a simple push of his finger would break off one of its legs. He chuckled as it squirmed around and spoke to it in an encouraging tone that made you cringe and laugh at the same time. It was only for a moment that John's eyes peeled from the creature to look at you with a calm, content expression that you only saw him wear on rare occasions, sometimes after completing a long essay or finishing a good show. 

"You like him?" you asked.

"She's actually a girl," the worker chimed in helpfully. John nodded eagerly. 

"She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life." And in that moment, you could only think one thing and one thing only. You were going to buy that fucking lizard.


	3. Fuck Studying

The seasons changed, but your feelings stayed and only grew. As you watched the already vibrant, green leaves on the many trees on campus change into even more beautiful orange and maroon colors, your own already strong feelings for John sparkled with a deeper intensity. You definitely had a crush on John. It had started to nip at your rib cage whenever you saw John with that salamander. (That's right. You remembered the name.) Those feelings were much stronger now, and there was no use pretending they weren't there. At first, you didn't want anything to come of these feelings. You just wanted them to go away, but as time passed, you accepted that the spark you felt when John smiled that bright, nerdy grin at you while looking into your eyes wasn't going anywhere.

At this point, you wanted John. You wanted to hold his dainty hand in your calloused one, press your lips to his, and maybe do some other things under the sheets if you gained the confidence to even take your shirt off in front of him. Right now was not the time for those embarrassing thoughts. You were a little busy with the very person you were just thinking about very deeply. John was incredibly distressed. Computer Programming as a major had not struck you as an easy field by far, but John had chosen it, so he must have thought he could manage it alright. In the first couple months, he had. He had to drop a couple classes that were too difficult, but overall, he was doing okay.. until today. 

He had rushed into the room with eyes sore from holding back stressed tears and hair frazzled from tugging on it most likely. He asked you in the calmest voice he could manage if you could help him study for a test, and how could you refuse? You almost wished you hadn't been in the room when he had asked because frankly, this was exhausting. You had gone through all of John's flashcards three times, skimmed over the first five chapters with him, and tried to explain certain terms in your own words more times than you could count. Your head felt heavy with boredom and exhaustion. A quick glance to the clock told you it was two in the morning, and although you didn't have class until ten the next day, you still really wanted to go to sleep. The fact that you were doing all of this with him just proved how much you seriously liked him. You had never done anything like this before with anyone. Getting acts of kindness points was nice, but this was a very big act of kindness.

"John, dude," you began, voice trying to hold back any sourness and coming out breathy. "I'm gonna ask you this one more time." A groan immediately left John's lips, and you almost snapped. You wanted to tell him that you were doing this for him and that you could easily just go to bed, but Jesus, John was distressed, more distressed than you had ever seen him before and saying that would surely hurt his fragile feelings. He was sitting on your bed at the moment. A textbook, two notebooks, and a laptop were all scattered across the bed. "Come on, man, you got this one." He took a deep breath in and then swallowed audibly. His eyes were squeezed closed, and you couldn't tell who was more tired, you or him. 

"Okay, give it to me." You tried not to let his choice of phrasing go to your head. 

"What's a logic board?" John's head rolled back as his face scrunched up. 

"Fuck..." He leaned his head back forwards and shook his head several times. His thin fingers slid into his hair and ruffled up the already messy locks. "I do not know."

"Dude!" Your voice was higher this time with pure disappointment. 

"I know! I'm sorry."

"That's the easiest fucking one. It's just another word for mother board. I'm not even taking the test, and I can figure that one out." John hid his face in his hands and rocked himself slowly. "Maybe you should just go to bed. It's late. You're tired. You're probably too tired to learn anything else." A broken whine left the other's lips. "John.." 

"You don't get it, Dave. I have to pass that test tomorrow."

"You're gonna pass it. We've been studying for three hours." You had been keeping track of the time. It was bound to happen considering that you kept glancing over to the clock. 

"Two and a half."

"Two hours and forty-eight minutes. That's basically three."

"Will it be three whenever I take that test?" he asked, his voice getting higher and louder. You shook your head and reached for John's arm. Your warm hand rubbed over his soft, chilly arm. 

"You need to relax." Your voice was lower and softer now. The change of tone seemed to help rather quickly. He took a deep breath and scooted himself closer to you. He rested his head on your shoulder and held onto your arm. When he spoke again, he was much quieter. 

"I'm just scared. I worked really hard to get here, and if I do bad on this test, I might lose it all." You wanted to return the affectionate touch, but you weren't really sure how. Your body just stayed stiff and still as to not disturb John's position. "Just failing one class or doing bad would mess up my scholarship, and it's way too late to drop classes. I really like being here." You wondered if he could feel your heartbeat increase speed. "I've made so many friends, and everyone's so nice, for the most part I mean."

"If someone's being a dick to you, I'll dropkick them." That tugged a laugh out of John.

"Thanks, Dave. I appreciate that," he said through laughter. You snickered a little as well. 

"Stressing yourself out like this is just gonna make taking the test harder. If you prepare anymore, you'll probably just tire yourself out.. Actually, you're already there. You did what you could, so just try to relax now and do your best on the test. That's really all you can do, and if you fuck it up a shit ton, which I really doubt you will even if you don't know what a logic board is, I'm still gonna stay your friend." John smiled at that and pulled his head away to look at you. "Thanks, Dave." He wrapped his arms around your middle and gave you a gentle squeeze. You returned it just the same..but then John hugged a bit tighter. Your chests pressed together, and the warmth of his cheek touched your neck. Everything in your body suddenly felt hot and tight with an overwhelming feeling of joy, and your heart actually tried to escape the prison of your chest. "You're a really great..mm.. You're really great." You weren't sure what that little break in his sentence meant, but you took it with a grain of salt. You pat his back and waited for him to pull away first. You had an immediate endorphin crash whenever he did.

"So does this mean you'll let me go to sleep now?" He began to close his notebooks and stack everything up.

"You could've just asked before. I'm not holding you hostage here," John reassured you.

"I know." He smiled at you and then retreated back to his own bed. You laid down and tried not to think about computers. You fucking hate studying. 


End file.
